Cuba and the U. S. Congress

A Shameful and Toxic Combination
Thursday, February 5th, 2015

      The U. S. Congress stands tall as the greatest exemplar of democracy, the greatest form of government ever devised by humankind. It deserves and has one of the world's most famed and most beautiful structures. This Wikipedia photo shows the Western Front of the U. S. Capital Building in Washington, D. C.

      The U. S. Congress consists of two chambers, the House of Representatives and the Senate. There are 535 democratically elected members, 435 Representatives and 100 Senators. Representatives are elected every two years and Senators every six years, with major advantages tilted toward incumbents. Each of America's 50 states has two Senators, meaning sparsely populated Wyoming has the same number of Senators as hugely populated states like California, Texas, New York, and Florida. Thus, the state of Florida has two Senators but the Miami area alone has three Representatives. Therein lies the Shameful and Toxic Combination that involves the U. S. Congress and the island of Cuba. Since the Spanish-American War in 1898, when the U. S. easily wrested control of Cuba from Spain, and especially since the Cuban Revolution overthrew the U.S.-backed and Mafia-backed Batista dictatorship in 1959, Cuba has been a major player in the Americas and on the international stage, far out of proportion to its size, wealth, or population. That's because of the island's tumultuous and continuous desire to be a sovereign nation, not a Spanish or American colony. The leaders of the overthrown Batista-Mafia dictatorship fled mostly to safe havens in the U. S., especially the Mafia-plagued cities of Miami, Florida and Union City, New Jersey. Today there are five Cuban-American members of the U. S. Congress from Miami {4} and Union City {1}. On the surface, in the world's greatest democracy, there is nothing wrong with that. Nothing at all. But beneath the surface, there is something wrong. Those five Cuban-Americans seem to believe that they alone reserve the right to dictate America's Cuban policy. Unfortunately, that's the way things now stand in the U. S. Congress.

      This week {February 3rd, 2015} Senators Marco Rubio from Miami and Robert Menendez from Union City, in my democracy-loving opinion, shamed the U. S. Congress with their flagrant, self-serving, anti-Castro zealotry as opposed to addressing other issues, such as sanity towards Cuba or priorities towards a multitude of other vital issues affecting and confronting Americans. The tirades by Mr. Rubio and Mr. Menendez on Tuesday in the U. S. Congress would have been suited for the Cuban National Assembly in Havana, except that since January 1, 1959 hurling grenades at the island from the sanctity of the U. S. has been a lot safer and much more rewarding. Yesterday Mr. Rubio and Mr. Menendez dominated a packed Senate subcommittee examining the impact of President Obama's efforts to normalize relations with Cuba, something that is desired by most Americans, most Cuban-Americans, most Caribbeans, most Latin Americans, and all democracy loving nations around the world. But yesterday as many times before Mr. Rubio and Mr. Menendez reveled in the fact that a handful of zealous Cuban-Americans can dictate America's Cuban policy. We American people, for allowing that to happen, are as much to blame as they are. Even so, I believe any American who watched on C-Span what unfurled at that packed Senate hearing yesterday would or should have been ashamed. As usual, during such sessions when Cuba is the topic, the exalted Cuban-Americans shame and demean important and decent people summoned before them. That seems to be why Cuban-Americans in Congress make bee-lines to serve on and lead the Foreign Relations Committee, the Western Hemisphere Committee, etc. Mr. Menendez recently chaired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Mr. Rubio is now the Chairman of the Senate's Western Hemisphere Committee. Unfortunately, Cuba is a foreign country and also is in the Western Hemisphere.

      I believe the saddest spectacle in the U. S. Senate this week, one that possibly brought tears to the eyes of some democracy lovers, was when Senator Rubio excoriated and demeaned, in my opinion, a decent American -- Roberta Jacobson. Watching a bully on a pedestal ruthlessly pick on a human or creature he deems vulnerable is not a pretty sight. {Photo courtesy: Brendon Smialowski/AFP}

      Roberta Jacobson, as this Brendon Smialowski/AFP photo shows, tried to defend herself against a cauldron of Senator Rubio's uncalled for harangues. But she was over-matched, and he knew it. After all, it was his show. He is the Chairman of the Western Hemisphere Committee in the U. S. Senate and Cuba is an island in the Western Hemisphere. Ms. Jacobson, sadly, will not get much empathy or sympathy from the proselytized or intimidated American people who are not supposed to have enough intelligence, enough guts, enough insight, or enough patriotism to support her. Mr. Rubio and his cohorts can easily sabotage Mr. Obama's efforts to normalize relations with Cuba. That's been a foregone conclusion from the start, at least in the views of those who know a stacked deck when they see it. Grilling Ms. Jacobson so callously and unnecessarily yesterday in the Senate was merely another feather in his political hat. 

       Left to their own devises, two very decent, virtuous, and brilliant women -- Josefina Vidal and Roberta Jacobson -- could have negotiated normal relations between Cuba and the United States. Ms. Vidal is Cuba's Minister of North American Affairs. Ms. Jacobson is America's Minister of Western Hemisphere Affairs. Since 1959 the unparalleled hostilities between Cuba and the United States have harmed Cubans, Americans, Cuban-Americans, Caribbeans, Latin Americans, and citizens around the world. But those animosities have also helped sate the revenge, political, and economic motives of a handful of people, and when it comes to U.S.-Cuban relations the few have maintained dominance over the many. That won't change. And that's a shame. Especially for America, the world's all-time greatest democracy.

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